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The Democratic Alliance (DA) is viewed by the public as being the party that works best in coalitions.

This is according to a new poll* conducted by the Social Research Foundation, in late February and early March, in conjunction with The Common Sense.

People were asked which party they most associated with the phrase “best at working in coalitions”.

Twenty-eight percent said they associated the DA most with the phrase, and 21% said they associated the African National Congress (ANC) the most with that phrase. Five percent said they associated the Economic Freedom Fighters with the phrase, the same proportion that associated the uMkhonto weSizwe Party with the phrase.

Nine percent said they associated no party with the phrase.

However, around 20% of those polled refused to answer the question or were undecided.

This means that of the people who did have a view on which party is best at working in coalitions, about 35% thought it was the DA, compared to the 26% that thought this of the ANC.

This is a positive finding for the DA. With South Africa increasingly becoming a coalition country (something that most South Africans understand), to be the party most associated with being able to work in coalitions bodes well for it.

South Africans are a conservative people, generally speaking, and a party that is seen to be able to work well with other parties, and ensure governance stability, will possibly be looked upon favourably when it comes to voting day.

*The Social Research Foundation Q1 2026 Market Survey was commissioned bythe Social Research Foundation supported by The Common Sense and conducted by Victory Research using a nationally representative telephonic CATI survey of registered voters (N=2 222), with metro samples upsized to over 500 respondents each in Johannesburg (n=503), Tshwane (n=510), and eThekwini (n=503). Fieldwork was conducted between 16 February 2026 and 6 March 2026 using a single-frame random digit dialling sampling design that draws from all possible South African mobile numbers, ensuring equal probability of selection and near-universal coverage given SIM penetration above 250%, more than 90% adult phone ownership, and mobile network coverage of 99.8% of the population. Respondents were screened to include registered voters only, and turnout modelling assigned each respondent a probability of voting based on likelihood indicators, with the primary model assuming turnout of 56.0%. Data were weighted to ensure the national sample reflects the demographic profile of the registered voter population across language, age, race, gender, location (urban/rural), education, and income, while metro samples were weighted to the demographic composition of voters in each metro. Results are reported at a 95% confidence level with a design effect (DEFF) of 1.762, producing margins of error of 2.1% nationally and 4.4% for each metro sample.